Lilli
Feminine · “lily”
Lilli is the German short form of Elisabeth and also, quite separately, the flower — and German naming has been treating the two as one for a long time.
How old is the name Lilli?
Lilli first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Lilli alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 3,200 people named Lilli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lilli most popular?
Lilli peaked in 2006, reaching #1335 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 2,568 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisabeth to Lilli
The story of Lilli
German naming produced a large family of short forms from Elisabeth — Lisa, Elsa, Ilse, Betti and Lilli among them — and Lilli also served for the flower, which was in use as a name by the nineteenth century. A German toy company's doll gave the name unexpected international currency in the 1950s. It appears in American records with German families and, more recently, with the general return of the Lily sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
lily; or God is my oath
German Lilli clips Elisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva, generally read as God is my oath. It also stands for the flower, from Latin lilium. The two are unrelated and German usage does not distinguish them.
How the name formed
- Elisabeth
- Lilli
Related forms: Lilli · Lily · Lili
Pronouncing Lilli
LIL-ee
Two syllables, first stressed. Lilli, Lilly and Lily are said identically.
Nicknames for Lilli
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 2006174 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1335reached in 2006
- Change vs 2023
- +19.4%37 in 2025, from 31
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lilli in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lilli in German — same name
- Lily in English — related form
- Lili in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Lillis among us
people named Lilli are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Lilli
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lilli
- #3903
- Lilli on the 2025 chart
- #13
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lilli went to 37 girls in 2025, but Lily, Lilly and Lili are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 7,989, which makes it the 13th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,890 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 201 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,440 for Lilli itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Barbaraann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lilli's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barbaraann climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barbaraann's path sketches the road Lilli is walking now.
Lilli sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lilli is headed
Lilli is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Lilli beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lilli in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented ancestries, one biblical and one botanical.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Lily and Lilly are both far more common in America and will be written for her.
- The sound is very widely used, so a classroom may hold more than one.
- It reads as a nickname to German speakers, which may matter on a document.
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What they receive
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Lilli
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lillis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Lilli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lilli?
- Lilli is one of 4 recorded spellings. Lily is the more common one — 6,673 births in 2025 against 37 for Lilli.
- How popular is the name Lilli in 2025?
- Lilli ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lilli?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Lilli — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lilli with classmates?
- Lilli will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lilli
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kay#3903 · Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Gisela#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lilli? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lilli and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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